5 Frozen in Crime by Cecilia Peartree Read Free Book Online Page A

have.’
    ‘There’s no of course about it. You and mobile
technology just don’t get on with each other.’
    She reversed grimly, halfway across the main road
and took another run at the hill. This time it worked. Up to a point. They got
stuck twenty metres up the lane and she had to repeat the whole process.
    ‘Funny, isn’t it?’ she said. ‘This is a nice
country lane when there isn’t any snow. Why can’t it just all go away and let
things get back to normal?’
    ‘You’ve got to deal with things as they are, not
how you’d like them to be,’ said Christopher.
    ‘But why?’ she said, her face set into lines he
hadn’t seen before as she pressed her foot harder on the accelerator.
    ‘Maybe if you didn’t try quite so hard -,’ he
suggested tentatively.
    She didn’t speak, but he noticed she did ease off
the pedal a little, and they inched upwards, gaining ground as painfully as if
the snow were an enemy and they were fighting a war. The wheels alternated
between spinning and gripping. Christopher felt as if his stomach might be
doing the same.
    They passed a road end, but there was a snowdrift
in the way and they didn’t notice it until it was too late to turn in.
    ‘Onwards and upwards,’ said Amaryllis through
gritted teeth. ‘Can you have a look at the map? There’s a torch in my bag.’
    ‘What am I looking for?’
    ‘Side roads. Farm tracks. Anywhere an idiot like
Dave might have turned off this road.’
    ‘He wouldn’t have done that, would he?’
    ‘He might have done, by accident. Or if the truck
was about to break down. He might have thought he’d be better off stopping and
calling somebody.’
    ‘Only he couldn’t call anybody,’ Christopher
reminded her. ‘Not with his mobile on the kitchen table.’
    ‘Let that be a lesson to you,’ muttered Amaryllis.
‘Not that you need another one.’
    Christopher wrestled with the map, unfolding it
clumsily with his gloved hands. He didn’t dare take off his gloves: it wasn’t
even warm inside the Range Rover, and he was afraid of frostbite. He found
Amaryllis’s torch and clicked it on.
    ‘Don’t use it for too long,’ said Amaryllis. ‘We’ll
need it when we get out and walk.’
    So that was really on the cards, was it? Well, at
least he knew now. She couldn’t have been entirely confident of making the
whole journey in the Range Rover after all.
    Just as he had found the road on the map, one of
the mobile phones rang on the dashboard.
    ‘That’ll be Jemima to tell us Dave’s home,’ said
Amaryllis, grinning.
    It wasn’t Jemima. It was Chief Inspector Smith.
    ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he said
to Christopher. ‘Nobody should be out in these weather conditions. Why didn’t
you call us right away?’
    ‘I think you’ll find one of your officers said you
wouldn’t do anything until the morning,’ said Christopher calmly. ‘Someone had
to do something.’
    ‘You’re a pair of bloody idiots!’
    ‘That’s no way to speak to a member of the public,’
Amaryllis called across from the driving seat.
    ‘Now I’m going to have to send people out after
you - when we’ve got a serious crime investigation going on. And you’re one of
the witnesses too. Didn’t anybody tell you not to leave town?’
    ‘Not that I can remember,’ said Christopher
innocently.
    ‘Tell me where you are, and I’ll see what I can
do.’
    Christopher looked at the map again. ‘Somewhere
just off the - sorry, I can’t read the name of the road in this light. I think
I’m going to need glasses soon. Just for reading, though. I’m fine with
distance.’
    He could almost hear Charlie Smith’s temperature
rising at the other end of the line. ‘Let me speak to her,’ said the police
officer.
    ‘She’s driving. We’ve just turned off the main
road. I think it’s the A985. It’s the turning just after you join the main road
from Pitkirtly. We’re heading up a hill, past some woods. I think Old
Pitkirtlyhill